In recent years, mobile wireless communications have become increasingly popular. Initial implementations of mobile wireless communications, for example in the form of cellular telephone networks, supported circuit switched voice communication services. Mobile voice telephone communications is now ubiquitous in many countries, and mobile services are replacing fixed landline service even for traditional voice telephone calls. However, for many years now the mobile service offerings have extended far beyond the traditional voice telephone call model. To meet the increased public interest in mobile services, the device manufacturers are continually developing and bringing to market. However, the new models of mobile stations must be compatible with and/or capable of operation through the mobile wireless communication network of one or more carriers offering the mobile service. As a result, a carrier often will need to certify each new model of a mobile station intended to operate via the carrier's network. This typically entails testing one or more samples of the new device.
The carriers have a number of different tests that they perform on new devices to determine that the mobile stations are operable on their networks, for certification purposes or the like. Some of these test procedures involve dialing and monitoring of results of the dialed calls from a mobile station. For example, modern mobile stations typically include global position satellite (GPS) receivers which are used for emergency calls (e.g. 911) or for location based services (LBSs), and mobile station certification often requires test calls to 911 or the like to determine the dialing and GPS location functions of the mobile station operate as expected/necessary. One way to test these capabilities has involved manual dialing, essentially, a technician manually dials 911 or some other number that functions similar to dialing 911 and records the call results (completion, dropped call, etc.) as seen from the perspective of the mobile station. Results data can also be obtained off-line (typically next day) from other elements involved in the call processing, such as the logs of the position determining entity (PDE) or the public safety answering point (PSAP). However, manually dialing 911 or the like a substantial number of times (e.g. 50 or more) to obtain an adequate statistical representation of device performance is time consuming and labor intensive.
There have been personal computer (PC) based products to automate some of the device test functions. For example, Qualcomm offers a Call Manager product that relies on a USB cable connection of a mobile station to a PC, and a program in the PC that drives the phone to make the calls. However, GPS measurements are sensitive to a number of environmental factors that impact the ability of the device to the receive the signals from an adequate number of the GPS satellites. Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable connection and/or operation of a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor on the nearby PC may actually cause interference with some functions of the mobile station, such as the GPS satellite signal reception. Such interference may compromise the validity of the PC driven device testing for 911 or other calls that involve a GPS location determination.
Thus, a need exists for systems, methods, and articles of manufacture that automate the device test without beginning tethered to a PC via a cable or the like.